The Entrepreneur – Wai Hong Fong

So as some of you guys may know, I recently launched onesaviour.com which is simply the front I use when people come to me looking for consulting work.

I bought a simple wordpress theme and implemented it fairly quickly.

Of course, I needed a new logo designed for the site.

I had a friend who started work at DesignCrowd lately, so I decided to try it out instead of the other design sites I’ve heard about.

Overall, I paid $277.59 for the project and got over 40+ designs after only 4 days. By this time, I had found one which I really liked so I didn’t actually wait for the end of the 10 days I had allocated. Probably could have gotten more designs that way. But, very much like the way I do my shopping, if I like it, I’m sold. There and then.

So here’s what the new logo looks like.

I thought the whole process was well guided by a really good UI that the designcrowd guys have put together. The checkout process was seamless, the design process was well guided. I also signed up for the social media promotion feature, which was pretty neat. For a small fee they’d tweet your project out via their twitter account.

All in all, a very pleasant experience so I would highly recommend them to anyone wanting to do some logo designs at Designcrowd.

I have hope in a world where there’s enough grace for all our shortcomings.
Where love is our default posture towards each other.
Where cancer & sickness don’t exist and healthy relationships flourish.
Where journey is celebrated because our hows are more important than our ends.
Where work is meaningful and life is time shared with those we care.
Where our blessings are received only to be readily shared with those around us.
Where trust is the currency of our engagement.

Of such a world I hope to see, but more than that, I aim to be a part of making it come to reality.
#ourmission #redemption

Some people have requested that I posted up the 10 tools I’ve been sharing at the Online Retailer Roadshow.

Thank you to those who took the time to encourage me and hopefully these tools will help you towards greater success in your own eCommerce journeys.

So here it is:

1) SEOMOZ - One of the best SEO tools + highly reputable Blogs out there

2) Opensiteexplorer - Replacement for yahoo site explorer and great for gauging a domain’s strength/competitiveness of a market

3) Usertesting - For $39, get a 15 min video of someone completing a few tasks on your site. Great usability testing tool.

4) Crazyegg - Track mouseclicks, scrolling and extended mouse hovers to assess design elements & usability

5) Kampyle - Collect feedback from your customers and use them to your advantage.

6) Google Website Optimizer – Do A/B or split tests of changes you make on site to ensure what you’re changing is actually helping and not hurting

7 ) Google Remarketing – ‘Stalk’ your visitors around the web to gain brand recognition and conversions with good ROI

8 ) Mailchimp - One of the best email marketing platforms out there.

9 ) Google Analytics & Google Alerts – Analytics is a must have if you don’t already have it, and google alerts keep you up to date with new appearances in the search index of specific keywords you choose

10 ) Terapeak - eBay data that will help you zoom in on products you should be selling and understand market potential

In reflecting on the year 2011, I’ve also looked at what to expect in the year 2012. Here are some of my thoughts around what’s happening in SEO this year. Love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to post comments.

1. Social media will be an even bigger factor in Google’s algorithm

Social media influence on ranking positions today reminds us of Google’s efforts in dealing with link and content data 10 years ago. Today, Google is 100 times better at interpreting the link graph. By the end of this year, Google will be 20 times better at interpreting the social graph as well.

2. The search results page will continue to feature less organic rankings and more paid

Pressure on Google to keep growing its revenue and profits would mean even more cannibalisation of space on the search engine results page. More and more sections will be paid. We first saw this in Google ads, then Google shopping. We’ll see product reviews, sign up forms and anything else Google can start charging for.

3. Paid search will become more important in supporting SEO efforts

Hiding keyword data in the name of privacy is only the first step. Google is encouraging SEOs who only focus on organic rankings to also get their PPC game on. Google’s goal is to create a search environment that encourages continual spending on PPC to attain valuable data in order to do good SEO.

4. Spammy SEO practices will get targeted even harder

The number of major rollouts in the search algorithm (ie. Panda) targeting spammy practices in 2011 is astounding. Rest assured, this will continue to increase in frequency and severity in 2012 as Google gets smarter and accumulates more data than they’ve ever had before. Article spinning, artificial links and spammy tactics like creating “content” pages on the fly using onsite search data will see even more decline in value.

5. SEO will become even more competitive than ever

As more and more companies get online, spending on SEO marketing will increase. The barriers to entry will become even higher. Smart SEOs will find a way to scale their efforts efficiently and weak SEOs may not be able to deliver satisfying results with poor practices anymore.

This is a reblog from the Startupsmart Website where I’m a regular contributor. As I felt that you guys might find this really useful, I’ve reposted it here.

Couple of weeks ago, I unexpectedly received a phone call saying that I was selected to be on The Age Melbourne Magazine’s Top 100.

According to Fairfax,
“Now into its fifth year, the Top 100 celebrates the cities’ most influential people. From actors to activists, scientists to sports stars and chefs to CEOs, the Top 100 will have changed Sydney and Melbourne in some way in 2011 — whether it’s by making a difference in their field, setting a trend or contributing above and beyond what is expected of them.”

I am truly honoured to be on the list, which also celebrates names such as Cadel Evans, David Manne and Ruslan Kogan. What was awesome too was seeing friends like Chantelle Baxter and other social entrepreneurs fill up the spots, putting faces to the voice of an entire generation of young people dedicated to making this world a better place.

While I still puzzle as to how I have been chosen, I think the key thought that crosses my mind is the feeling of grace. The undeserved, unearned sense of being given a gift. OZhut, which started 3 years ago, and celebrates nearly 10 times growth from our 1st to 3rd year is a mixture of hard work, opportunity and grace – that of those people that have given of themselves to make it what it is today.

I am a very lucky person, living in a very lucky country. I shall not take any of that for granted as we strive to make the entire world(starting with our own Marvellous Melbourne) a better place for our global family.

The Age Melb Magazine – Top100 2011:

Page 60 – Number 55(grace) – ME!

p.s. And yes, I did play 18 hours of Ragnarok Online a day, failed 3 Uni subjects in 3rd year 1st semester 2006. Lessons learnt in that one too. Another post another day perhaps?

So we had a pretty epic day on Saturday.

We were all out celebrating a friend’s final week before enrolling into the school of marriage.

Surfing in the morning and horseriding in the afternoon.

Of course, to complete the ritual, we needed to do something crazy in the evening/night right?

So we dressed up our dear friend Heng Khuen Cheok, as none other than SUPERMAN!

of course, as the night progressed, our superman had obtained 4 kisses from different random girls on the street including wonderwoman herself!

As we were walking back to our cars to call it a night, we saw a car hit a red light and knocked a man on swanston street. Our Superman, who also happens to be an emergency doctor by day, runs off to help out.

While there, he was told to piss off by the other bystander who happened to be a paramedic, thinking this was some drunk dude dressed in a superman costume trying to make it a joke.

Of course, the best part was when the police arrived and you ended up with the epic photo below of superman saving the day:

So how the heck is this post even on this blog?

Well, first of all, I’m proud of being a part of this epic event Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Secondly, business is in many ways very much like this. Being in the right place in the right time with the right people and dressed up in the right superman suit

For anyone experiencing issues with M2E’s Magento & Ebay integration, you need to replace a file which contains the token that M2E uses to connect to eBay’s API.

The error that I am referring to is :

* Synchronize eBay items transactions/orders ... Fail
DateTime::__construct(): Failed to parse time string (Auth token is hard expired.) at position 0 (A): The timezone could not be found in the database


The file in question is
/app/code/local/Ess/M2e/Model/M2eConnector.php

As the changes required are privy only to M2E customers, it’s important that you contact them directly here.

*Note: This post was edited as part of a request from the developers at M2E. Also, the solution above is from M2E and should have been sent to your email address. If you haven’t received it, it’s best to get in touch with them as well.

I struggle with ‘networking’, full stop.

It’s an unnatural thing for me, and hopefully some people will emphatise with me. But in my experience, there have been many wonderful moments where I simply get opportunities to meet truly amazing people. Some of these people are thought leaders in their industries and what not. Some of them have led me on to other more interesting people.

Here’s what I’ve learnt through these:

1) Just be genuine. There’s nothing to be gained from going out there and trying to ‘meet’ people so that you can ‘use’ them someday down the track. The best relationships are with people whom you simply connect with, and are able to be genuinely find their life story interesting.

2) Don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s common for people to ‘steal’ each other in the middle of conversations during a ‘networking event’. It’s OKAY. Just move on and treat it as an opportunity to talk to someone else, and to meet other people that you otherwise wouldn’t meet if you had been comfortable talking to just the few. And when you don’t understand something, or don’t ‘get’ a joke, don’t be afraid to ask at the expense of looking silly. The only stupid questions are the ones that never got asked.

3) Be present. The best thing you can do for someone when you’re with them is to be there. Like actually just be present to the moment. You can’t hide this. Our body language, which does 80% of the talking, is dictated mostly by things we are not even aware of, like whether we are being present to someone or not.

4) Be generous. I believe in an attitude and a lifestyle of abundance. There is more than enough resources, information and money out there in this world for everyone. There’s no need to want to just hoard more and more. There is a certain joy that comes out from being able to share and believe in people through the sharing of words, good food and funny stories.

5) Have fun! There’s nothing like good laughter, genuine smiles and a merry heart that does wonders for building genuine friendships. It’s like they say, if you can’t play together, you can’t work together. So yeah, play, tell jokes, share your most embarassing moments and simply have a good time together!

Hi everyone!

It’s been really eerily quiet here over the last couple of months as we wade through challenge after challenge in the business. I apologize for the lack of updates and will commit to posting more regularly! I think part of it is trying not to get too caught up with being perfectionistic on what to write about.

So…. After months of preparation, and 2 weeks of intense work…

we’ve done it.

it. is. finished. (or has it really just begun?)

let me give you a hint. it has something to do with kitchenware

Introducing OZKitchenware.com.au – Australia’s Favourite Kitchenware store into our Family of stores!

Featuring a full range of product from your favourite brands like Scanpan, Cuisinart, Global Knives and more(with MORE to come!), we’re really excited to continue to serve our customers, community, friends and family in this new area. More than half the team are passionate foodies and we love to cook AND eat

As part of the launch, we’ll be announcing a very special Friends and Family Sale soon! I have a few friends already saying they might look at something for an upcoming wedding they were attending or birthday. So if you’re interested come back again in 2 days. Will hope to have the details by then.

It’s been a while since I blogged now, but I think I’d try to get into the habit of regularly posting again.

I’d try to journal the things I’m learning on this journey on this blog as I go along.

Watched a video today on leadership – http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1719

“It is not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but those that are most adaptive to change” – Charles Darwin

In talking about leadership, Carly Fiorina highlights capability, collaboration and character as the keys to good leadership. I think it’s interesting in talking about capability that she draws upon 2 skills which are not typically the ones we would have picked:

1) The capability to ask questions and listen to the answer.

2) The capability to take risks, innovate and embrace new ideas.

I think in our journey, we’ve definitely embraced new ideas, taking risks and innovating heaps. We’ve changed our business model a few times, from the good ole ebay only days to the ebay/website days to the multiple niche stores that we have today. We were one of the first users of Magento in Australia as early as November 2008. Here’s proof .

However, I feel that there is a lack in me personally in my ability to ask enough or the right questions and to listen to the answers. But in reflection, there is so much value in that especially when the company grows and when it becomes less and less about the founders than it is about the rest of the team. This is definitely a skill I would like to hone Remember, ask then listen.